Sydney, Volume 2 - The Perfect Stopover

Hey folks!

After my time in New Zealand, I did not feel like going home at all, so I decided to make a few stops in between, the first of them being Sydney. I had already been there in April, but only for four days, so there was still quite a lot to see, and in addition, I was looking forward to seeing some very good friends again, so the prospects were very promising and I was sure I would have an awesome time. Well, I was until that moment when I lost my credit card at Christchurch Airport. I did not have any money left, so I was actually facing an abysmal situation. I was so so lucky though that there are amazing people in this world.

When Minal, a woman that I had never met before, realized what had happened to me, she immediately lent me some money to survive at least the first day. I was and still am so grateful for that. Without her help, things would have been incredibly hard to manage in Sydney. And then there was my dear Irish friend Karen – she lives in Sydney so I texted her and asked her for help - who immediately offered to lend me some money and even called ANZ, my bank, on behalf of me. That once again showed me what a great friend she is and how lucky I had been to meet her and her friends back in April. Anyway, after safely arriving in Australia and checking into my hostel in the late evening, I was incredibly exhausted of what had happened during the last few hours so I fell asleep immediately.

Thursday, 31st August

In the next morning, I went straight into an ANZ branch to get sorted, and luckily, opening a new account was pretty easy, so I did not spend more than one hour on that. However, I was told that it might take up to two days to transfer the money from my old to my new account, and I only had a few dollars left but once again, I was so lucky since it did not even take an hour until it was on the Australian account. So everything was sorted and I did not even need to borrow anything from Karen. Things had gone perfectly! I never want to make such an experience again though and I am sure that I will never ever forget to take my card out of the ATM again. I think such an incident is one of the worst travelers' nightmares.

So after I had solved this problem, I still had some hours left to explore Sydney, so I decided to go to Manly, a suburb which is only accessible by ferry. I arrived there in the late afternoon and decided to take a longer walk. I started at the beach and then made my way through a forest before I eventually ended up at Fairfax lookout, a really nice viewpoint right before sunset, so I guess that is what you call perfect timing. From that viewpoint you can see the skyline of the city centre with the ocean in front of it, so it was just brilliant to watch the sun disappearing over the city. After going back to the ferry terminal in the dark, I went straight to Darling Harbour to watch the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. The Socceroos were playing in Japan and had the chance to qualify for Russia that evening. There were some hundreds of Australians and a few Japanese in front of a big screen and the atmosphere was really good. Australia lost the game though, so the only ones celebrating were the Japanese, especially because their team qualified for the World Cup with that win. Hopefully the Socceroos will beat Honduras in the play-offs to go to Russia as well.

Friday, 1st September

The next day, I went for another walk but first, I had to take a bus to get to Palm Beach which took me some 90 minutes. In Palm Beach, there is a lighthouse right on top of a hill and you get a splendid view from there so I was glad that the weather was quite good. The walk itself was pretty short and easy but I stayed at the lighthouse for quite a while to enjoy the beautiful landscape with forests, beaches and the sea. After taking the bus back to the city center, I spontaneously decided to go up to Sydney Tower around sunset. And it was definitely worth it. From the tower, you can see the entire city, including the main tourist attractions such as the opera house and the Harbour Bridge, and the ocean. It was also very interesting to see everything in the dark when there were thousands of lights shining all over the city.

Saturday, 2nd September

The weekend had arrived and it was a weekend I had been looking forward to for quite a long time – not necessarily because it was my birthday weekend but mainly because it was time for something else: the reunion with Caite, Karen and Kathryn, my Irish friends whom I had come across on Fraser Island and who are most definitely among my best friends. In case you have read the blog posts I wrote during my East Coast trip, you will probably have noticed that there was one person missing. The girls came to Australia as a group of four, but Niamh was on a trip to Bali during my time in Sydney. What a bad luck and what a pity. I would have been more than happy to see her again as well. I had agreed with Karen on meeting at the girls' house in Coogee, and as there is a nice walk that leads from Bondi to this suburb of Sydney, I decided to do that walk in the morning. It was a beautiful day and really warm outside, actually the first time I was wearing short sleeves after my time in Cairns back in May. I got to see some great coastal views during the walk, and after a bit more than an hour, I arrived at my destination. I was welcomed by Karen with open arms, and after having a shower and getting dressed, we went out to catch the bus that would get us to our destination, the Royal Randwick Racecourse. This place has nothing to do with car racing, it is a venue for horse racing. It was the first time I went to see an event like that, but as I am interested in pretty much everything that has to do with sports, I was sure it would be a good experience. On the bus, we caught up with Phil, Karen's boyfriend, and went to the racecourse together. He is really friendly and we got along very well from the beginning. After walking around a bit and watching the first races which were not very successful for me as I always bet on the wrong horses – was still fun though – we were finally joined by Caite and Kathryn who had been a bit tired in the morning. I lost all my bets until the end of the event but that did not really matter to me. What was really important was that I got the chance to be with very good friends for several hours. It was just super lovely and wonderful to see the three girls again. I enjoyed every moment we spent together. That day was just perfect. After the races, we went for dinner together and I picked up my things from the girls' house and said goodbye afterwards.

Sunday, 3rd September

So there it was – my 27th birthday. The sun was shining, it was even warmer than the day before, and I had agreed with my Irish friends to meet at the Coogee Food and Wine Festival, so everything was prepared for another wonderful day. In the morning, I decided to take the train to the Olympic park. I walked around there a bit and went to Bicentennial Park afterwards. It is a really nice area with forests, meadows and a lake. After spending some time there, I made my way to Coogee where I arrived in the afternoon. I waited for my friends for a little while, had a meal with them and eventually headed to the festival. It was really crowded with a lot of people sitting on the ground, relaxing and listening to the very good live music. I also got to know some other Irish friends of the girls, so we were there with quite a big group. We had some nice hours together until it got dark and the festival ended. Unfortunately, Karen was leaving Sydney the next morning and still needed to do some packing so we had to say goodbye in the early evening which obviously made me feel a bit sad. I do not want to complain though. I got to see three of my best Aussie friends again – something I had been looking forward to since April. Especially the Saturday was a brilliant day. I am sure we will meet again in the future, whether in Ireland, Germany, Australia or anywhere else. This birthday weekend was also a perfect example of the fact that how much you enjoy your time is not a question of the quantity but of the quality of those you spend your time with. Anyway, I went to Bondi a few minutes later, had a $25 pizza for free which was part of a special birthday deal and enjoyed the last few hours of my birthday.

Monday, 4th September

I was on my own again, but there was still quite a bit to explore. Such as the Blue Mountains. I had already been there back in April but on that day, the weather had been pretty foggy so I definitely had not seen these amazing mountains in their full beauty. This time I was incredibly lucky though. The sun was shining all day long and there were only very few clouds, so I had perfect views and a great time hiking through the forest from the morning to the early evening. This landscape is simply unique and an absolute must see when you are in Sydney.

Tuesday, 5th September

On my last full day, a big surprise was waiting for me. In the morning, I suddenly got texted by Timo, a German friend I had met during an internship two years ago. He told me he was in Sydney right now! I had not been expecting that at all! We arranged to meet at the Harbour Bridge in the afternoon. In the meantime, I went to Wendy Whiteley's secret garden right on the other side of the bridge. It is a nice, little place. After that, I made my way to the viewpoint on the bridge to meet there with Timo and his friends. It was great to see him again after such a long time especially since he had not been able to come to my farewell parties in Germany last year. From the bridge, I went straight to the Shangri-La Hotel to see the sunset from there. It was just super nice and beautiful. And very relaxing, with a comfortable seat and a German drink in my hand. A bit later, the others joined me there and we had some drinks before we went home. It was a nice evening and I really enjoyed it.

Wednesday, 6th September

Another big day had come. I was just about to leave the “Western” world to enter a totally new world: South East Asia. I had booked my flight to Bangkok for the early evening. I used my last hours in Sydney for a walk through the Botanical Gardens and spent some time at the opera house. And then I met Jason again! I had not known that he was coming to Sydney on that day but had seen a Facebook post in the morning indicating that. So I quickly texted him and arranged to meet with him at Circular Quay. When he finally arrived there, we only had a bit less than half an hour left but I still enjoyed catching up with him. So I had two totally surprising reunions during my last two days which definitely set a great end to a marvellous week in Sydney. My time there was, under the given circumstances, simply perfect. Things could not have gone better. It was most definitely the right decision to come to Sydney again. Great views, good weather, the loveliest birthday weekend and reunions with dear friends – could I have asked for more for my last days before my trip to Asia?! I hope you that enjoyed reading this post and the pictures and that you are keen on learning about my Asia adventures!

Cheers,

Max